Paranormal Activity 2
'Paranormal Activity 2 '''is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry. The film is a parallel prequel to the 2009 film "''Paranormal Activity", beginning two months before and ending the night after the events of "Paranormal Activity". It was released in theaters at midnight on October 22, 2010 in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Canada. It was released in theaters on October 27, 2010, in the Philippines. Paranormal Activity 2 broke the record for biggest midnight gross for an R-rated film with $6.3 million, beating the previous record-holder Watchmen by $4.6 million, and broke the record for biggest opening for a horror movie of all time. On its opening day, Paranormal Activity 2 placed number one at the box office, making $20,100,000 and finished with a total of $41,500,000 estimated over the weekend, placing first at the box office. It has currently grossed $84,752,907 in North America and $92,759,125 overseas, giving the film a worldwide total of $177,512,032. Synopsis During 2006, in Carlsbad, California, a family sets up security cameras around their home, after experiencing what they thought was a "break-in". They soon realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they thought. Plot In 2006, a "burglary" occurs at the home of Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Dan Rey (Brian Boland), leaving only their infant son Hunter's bedroom untouched. The only thing stolen is a necklace that Kristi's sister, Katie (Katie Featherston), had given her. Dan installs security cameras throughout the house. Martine (Vivis Cortez), the family housekeeper and nanny, attempts to cleanse the house of "evil spirits," and Dan fires her after catching her burning sage. Katie and Kristi talk about being tormented by a demon when they were children. Dan's daughter, Ali (Molly Ephraim), begins investigating the mysterious happenings after she is lured outside by loud banging and the door shuts and locks behind her. She discovers that humans can make deals with demons for wealth or power by forfeiting the life of their first-born son. She also realizes that until Hunter, there had not been a male child born in Kristi and Katie's family since the time of their great-great grandmother. The violence escalates and Kristi is tormented further; the family's German Shepherd, Abby, is attacked and apparently suffers a seizure. Dan and Ali take Abby to the vet, leaving Kristi alone with Hunter. When Kristi checks on the baby, the demon assaults her and drags her into the basement, where she stays for just over an hour. Finally, the basement door opens and a possessed Kristi walks out. The following day, Ali is home with Kristi, who will not get out of bed. Ali hears noises and eventually examines the basement door and finds it covered in scratches. She also sees a word, Meus (Latin for "Mine"), scratched into it. Ali goes upstairs to check on Hunter, and sees Kristi in his room, with a strange bite mark on her leg. Ali phones Dan, begging him to come home, saying "There's something wrong with Kristi". When he arrives, Ali, who has watched the security tapes from the night before, begs him to view the footage of Kristi's attack. After watching the tape, he immediately calls Martine, who prepares a cross to exorcise the demon; Kristi will have no memory of having been possessed. Dan tells Ali he is going to pass the demon onto Katie so that Kristi and Hunter will be saved. Ali begs him not to because it is unfair to Katie, but Dan sees no other way to save his wife and son. That night, when Dan tries to use the cross on Kristi, she attacks him and the house lights all go out. Using the handheld camera's night vision, he finds Kristi and Hunter have disappeared. Furniture begins toppling over, and the chandeliers shake. Dan chases Kristi into the basement, where she attacks him. He touches her with the cross, causing her to collapse. The ground rumbles and Dan hears demonic growls and roars, until finally the shaking stops. Dan puts Kristi to bed and burns a photo of a young Katie (the same photo Micah later finds in the attic of his and Katie's house, as depicted in the first film). Three weeks later, Katie visits and explains that strange things have begun happening at her house. Kristi tells her to not discuss it just as Katie had told her before. She returns home, where she finds Micah has purchased a new video camera; the rest of the scene consists of approximately the first two minutes of the previous film. On October 9th, a night after Micah is killed, Katie, possessed and bloodstained, breaks into Dan and Kristi's home and kills Dan by breaking his neck. She then climbs the stairs and attacks and kills Kristi in Hunter's room, hurling her against the camera with superhuman strength and taking the baby. Katie leaves the room, cradling Hunter. The screen fades to black as Hunter's crying dies down and turns into laughter. A text states that Ali was on a school trip and returned home to find the bodies of Daniel and Kristi Rey on October 12, 2006, and that Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remain unknown. Where are they? Cast *Katie Featherston as Katie *Sprague Grayden as Kristi Rey *Brian Boland as Daniel Rey *Molly Ephraim as Ali Rey *Micah Sloat as Micah Sloat *Seth Ginsberg as Brad *Vivis Cortez as Martine *Jackson Xenia Prieto and William Juan Prieto as Hunter Rey Release The film was released in the United States on October 22, 2010. The film was made available in IMAX format as well as standard. Critical reception Based on 132 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Paranormal Activity 2 has an overall 58% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 6/10. Rotten Tomatoes states that "Paranormal Activity 2 doesn't cover any new ground, but its premise is still scary—and in some respects, it's a better film than the original." Artist Direct calls it "one of the scariest films of all time."14 Entertainment Weekly said that the film "blends shock and suspense and smart and scary"; reviewer Owen Gleiberman called it a "shivery-skillful, highly worthy fear-factor sequel" and wrote, "The images all point down, which is subtly disquieting, and each one is composed with enough wide-angle space and distance, and enough nooks and crannies, so that even when nothing is happening, the often dead-silent shots tend to grow scarier the more you look at them... It made me jump, sweat, and chew my fingernails."15 Positive reviews tend to view the film as effectively frightening, whereas negative and mixed reviews focus on the movie's perceived slow start.16 By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received a "mixed or average" score of 53, based on 23 reviews.17 Roger Ebert, who awarded the original film three and a half stars, awarded Paranormal Activity 2 one-and-a-half out of a possible four stars.18 Box office Paranormal Activity 2 broke the record for biggest midnight gross for an R-rated film with $6.3 million, beating the previous record-holder Watchmen by $4.6 million, and broke the record for biggest opening for a horror movie of all time.19 On its opening day, Paranormal Activity 2 placed number one at the box office, making $20,100,000 and finished with a total of $41,500,000 estimated over the weekend, placing first at the box office.20 It has currently grossed $84,752,907 in North America and $92,759,125 overseas, giving the film a worldwide total of $177,512,032.3 Home media Paranormal Activity 2 was released on DVD/Blu-ray and video on demand/pay-per-view on February 8, 2011, and includes an unrated director's cut and deleted scenes. Paranormal Activity 2 was placed at #1 for top Blu-ray and rental sales for its first week of being out. Sequel The film would later be followed by Paranormal Activity 3, in 2011. Category:Movies Category:Paranormal Activity movie Category:Horror movies